Julian's Gospel Paperback

Praise for Julian's Gospel from the London Times Literary Supplement (01/09/2015):

"A vivid and readable account . . . the prizes that [Rolf's] volume has garnered to date indicate that it has already been well received as a popular introduction to the medieval anchoress and her work."

2014 Catholic Press Association Book Award Winner

2014 Association of Catholic Publishers Award: Biography

2014 Nautilus GOLD Book Award in Religion/Spirituality: Western Traditions

2014 National Indie Excellence Book Awards: Religion

“Certainly one of the best books on Julian of Norwich I've ever read. With a vast amount of research and a great deal of passion, Veronica Mary Rolf successfully recreates the world of the great mystic, provides careful explanations of Julian's rich experiences in prayer, and, overall, paints a convincing portrait of one of the most remarkable women ever to have lived--and believed.”-- James Martin, S.J., author, My Life with the Saints

Julian of Norwich, a medieval English mystic who spent the latter part of her life as an enclosed anchoress, is largely known through her extraordinary Revelations, one of the most popular and influential works of Christian mysticism. It was also the first book ever written by a woman in the English language. But until now, the woman herself was an elusive figure.

In this fascinating work, Veronica Mary Rolf has offered a convincing reconstruction of Julian’s life in fourteenth-century Norwich, along with a comprehensive chapter-by-chapter commentary on her Revelations—rendered here in a new and faithful translation from the Middle English.

Julian’s Gospel goes in-depth to uncover the political, cultural, social, and religious milieu that formed and deeply influenced her development as a woman and a mystic. Throughout, the book creates a strong dramatic arc for Julian’s Revelations that interweaves her personal sufferings and burning questions with her visionary experiences, producing a compelling spiritual biography. Julian of Norwich comes fully alive in this work, her intense spirituality bearing a message of surprising relevance to our own era.

Veronica Mary Rolf is an independent scholar of medieval studies and comparative literature, educated at Columbia University. She has spent her life in the professional theatre, as a playwright, performer, and artistic director. For over two decades, she trained and directed professional actors as a Master Teacher of Dramatic Arts in New York, London, and Berkeley. Currently, she presents a popular lecture series, Mornings with Julian of Norwich, and writes frequently on her website: www.JuliansVoice.com

The reader will be amazed at how Julian can in her own words and with her own voice teach us, reveal to us and give witness to the love of God available to every single creature.

Joan M. Nuth, John Carroll University in Horizons01/20/2015, 02:18 PM

Rolf provides a thorough and readable introduction to Julian that could work well for undergraduates or anyone with no prior knowledge of Julian, the mystical tradition, or the medieval religious milieu... What comes through loud and clear is the fact that in her suffering Julian was saved, in a concrete way, from both sin and death by a loving God who wants only good for all of us. This is the quintessential Christian message, which Julian believed applied to all her "evenchristens." Rolf's efforts to present this reality to the general reading public are successful and welcome.

"The Commentary is clearly the product of long, careful and intelligent study and reflection, and is filled with insightful and often wise observations . . . By the end of the book readers have a clearer appreciation of why Thomas Merton could call Julian, along with [John Henry, Cardinal] Newman, 'the greatest English theologian' as well as 'one of the most wonderful of all Christian voices' . . . Writing [Julian's Gospel] was clearly a labor of love on the author's part, and as Julian's final chapter quite simply declares that 'love is our lord's meaning' throughout the entire course of the Revelations, so the book becomes an extended invitation to the audience to participate not only in the author's clearly evident love for Julian but in the divine love that Julian herself receives and reciprocates and conveys by her Revelations 'to a people who needed the most' -- because, as the author suggests in her closing words. 'we are that people.'"

--John A. Coleman, S.J., America Magazine09/05/2014, 03:38 PM

In many ways, Julian, who once said she wished she could have been with Mary Magdelene and the other women around Jesus, turned out to write a kind of woman's version of the Gospel . . . I bring her up because I am often asked by people to suggest good reading for Lent and because a new, truly fresh and magisterial, commentary on Julian's revelations has been recently published: Veronica Mary Rolf, Julian's Gospel. It is already in its second printing. . . I can hardly think of a better book to read carefully, ponder, and pray over often during Lent than Rolf's Julian's Gospel

--Catholic Press Association Book Award Citation09/05/2014, 03:33 PM

"Both veteran and newly ordained seekers of the enigmatic mystic Julian will profit from this author's mastery of the subject matter. Julian's Revelations take on a deeper personal nature and relevance when viewed through Rolf's historical, familial, and theological insights. The author deftly portrays a Julian of her time but for all time--a voice that speaks to 21st century people with profound wisdom, faithful to Church teaching yet always plumbing its depths."

"Simon Schama meets Pillars of the Earth . . . absolutely fascinating. Rolf's final strand is her book's triumph, imaginatively employing history and theology to draw out the significance of Julian's Shewings."